New Delhi, August 26
Hundreds of farmers demonstrated here today to demand the passing of the Land Acquisition Bill by Parliament, higher compensation for their lands and rehabilitation schemes for their children.

Close to 700 farmers from Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of the Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson, Dhirendra Singh, staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar. The event was hosted by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan.

Singh blamed the opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for deliberately stalling the passing of the bill in the monsoon session.

"The bill could not be taken up as the House was adjourned several times. So, a peaceful march by farmers was the only option and then present a memorandum to Parliament. The memorandum addressed to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar, reads that no member of either House has talked about the farmers' problems in the monsoon session. It also reads that the opposition leaders not only ignored the kisan (farmer), but many families dependent on them. They destroyed environment without a clear vision of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh Government had requisitioned land for building the Yamuna Expressway, connecting Delhi to Agra. The land acquisition began in 2007 for the Yamuna Expressway, which is being constructed across Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra districts of UP. In 2011, people protested against the enforced land acquisition by the UP Government. The protests were centred at Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida.

Hari Dutt Sharma, a farmer who was part of the demonstration today, said that farmers should be paid higher rates for their land. He says that the government buys land from farmers at Rs 800 per sq m. It then sells the land to private builders for Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per sq m.

Mozam Khan, who is part of the sangthan, said that the private builder then sells the land to the common man for Rs 40,000 per sq m. "Loot is happening. This should be stopped and private builders should be in direct communication with the farmers for buying their land," he said.

The land belonging to the farmers should not be sold to the private builders for making hotels and setting up commercial enterprises. "The land should be given for building roads, railways and hospitals," said Sharma.

Another demand of the farmers is that their families and children should be provided education and employment. "After our land is taken away, we have no other means of income. Our lands were forcefully taken away and that is why the Bhatta Parsaul agitations happened. Many farmers died. Those injured were not even given compensation by the government. If the Land Acquisition Bill is passed, we can give our consent to sell our land," he said.

Manoj Kumar, a farmer who belongs to Bhaipur village in Gautam Budh Nagar district, UP, says that there are about 40 people in his village who allegedly paid money to touts to receive the government compensation for their land. "In May, I was getting Rs 4.62 crore to sell my 17 bigahs of land to the Yamuna authority. I had to give Rs 4.12 lakh to a tout so that I could receive my compensation," he added.

According to sources, farmers who came from the adjoining areas of Delhi did not even pay toll tax at DND.

New Delhi, August 26
Eleven persons, including 10 schoolchildren, were injured when the van they were travelling in, crashed into a barrier of stones and overturned in the Khyala area, west Delhi, this morning.

According to the police, the incident took place about 6.40 am. "The schoolchildren, aged between 6 and 18 years, were heading towards their school in Punjabi Bagh. They were coming from Keshav Puram and were travelling in an SUV that was being driven by a 19-year-old boy when the accident took place," said a police officer.

The vehicle overturned when it rammed into stones that had been taken out from a drain. The car was dragged to a certain distance, due to the impact of the accident.

Several onlookers rushed towards the vehicle and rescued the children and the driver. They were taken to nearby hospitals, where they were given first-aid. They had suffered bruises.

According to the police, no casualty was reported from the accident. The school van driver, identified as Amandeep, was arrested from the hospital. The police said that he was driving the SUV at a high speed, causing the accident. A case has been registered under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including rash and negligent driving, at the Khyala police station against the driver.

New Delhi, August 26
Taking seriously to the rising cases of dengue, the health department of the Delhi Government, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Directorate of Nation Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (DNVBDCP), and National Institute of Malaria Research held a joint meeting today and decided that there was an urgent need to take steps to control water and vector-borne diseases as conditions were conducive to causing surge in the cases of these diseases.

Delhi Health and Family Welfare Minister A. K. Walia said that 89 cases of dengue have been reported in Delhi till date as compared to only nine cases the last year during the corresponding period. Very high density of mosquito-breeding has been found during the last three months in institutions, police stations, hospitals, government offices, etc.

He said that immediate steps are required to be taken to prevent and control dengue.

As per the data collected by the DNVBDCP, Sadh Nagar area in Palam, School of Planning and Architecture, Institute of Town Planning as well as in the Institute of Public Administration situated in ITO and Fire Station, Moti Nagar, there was a high density of mosquito breeding.

During the discussions with the health officials, it emerged that there is an acute need of creating public awareness with regard to mosquito breeding which was reported in all strata of society-rich or poor, educated or uneducated, urban or rural, high-rise or low-rise dwellers. 

New Delhi, August 26
The Delhi Cabinet today gave its nod for shifting high tension and low tension power lines in unauthorized colonies.

Talking to mediapersons after a meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stated that overhead high tension and low tension power lines passing over residential areas, especially unauthorized colonies, pose a serious threat to human life.

The funds are being released under the scheme titled - "Provision of Essential Services in Unauthorized Colonies" - to provide the basic amenities like roads and drains, water supply, sewerage and streetlights.

The shifting of the high tension and low tension lines in unauthorized colonies was hitherto not covered under the scheme.

The Chief Minister said that MLAs have been drawing the attention of the government for shifting such lines as a number of deaths have taken place due to overhead lines. There have been instances of releasing 50 per cent of the amount by the power department for shifting of high tension and low tension lines in certain colonies.

The city government was keen to bring out a more practical policy with feasible solution to overcome the menace of overhead power lines.

She also stated that with the decision of the Cabinet, it has become possible to allow undertaking the projects of shifting overhead power lines in unauthorized colonies by sourcing the funds from the scheme. The funds would be released by the Urban Development Department to the power department on the basis of their recommendations.

Initially, the scheme would be applicable in 895 colonies regularized at the first instance. For rest of the colonies, orders will be issued in due course.

New Delhi, August 26
To do its bid towards contributing to a clean environment, Delhi University gets its first e-waste drop box by dataserv APAC at Miranda House. The idea is to sensitise about safe disposal of e-waste and with this students would now have an authorised outlet on campus for disposing of old and unusable phones and accessories.

The new outlet was inaugurated during the two-day Delhi Youth Summit on Climate Change by Director of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Sunita Narain, DU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dinesh Singh, Miranda House Principal Dr. Pratibha Jolly along with Amit Sardana, MD, dataserv APAC.

On the occasion, Sunita talked about the correlation of climate change and natural disasters with reference to Uttarakhand cloud bursts and the tragedy that followed.

The e-waste collected would be taken care of by the private company and disposed of in line with the E-waste Management and Handling Rules 2011, said officials.

"We had a good participation of students from across Delhi University during the summit and now we have arranged a proper e-waste collection box," said Jolly.

E-waste constitutes old or unusable mobile phones, handheld computer or telephony devices, laptops and computer peripherals apart from white goods. India has 900 million users of mobile phones. Irresponsible disposal of such devices through illegal operators or junk dealers can cause serious environmental damage and lead to health hazards, said the organisers.

"India is a growing contributor to the e-waste generated across the globe, and if this waste is not handled in an environmentally sound manner, it can cause major problems," said Amit Sardana, managing director of dataserv APAC.

New Delhi, August 26
A 30-year-old bakery owner was found murdered at his shop in outer Delhi's Sultanpuri area today.

As the shop was ransacked, the police suspect that he was beaten to death for resisting a robbery.

The deceased, Mohammad Ashiq, belonged to Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district. He ran his bakery at Hari Enclave in Sultanpuri.

An initial police probe revealed that three of his juvenile employees are absconding with Rs 50,000.

Ashiq's brother Naushad told the police that six persons, including juveniles, were employed in the shop. The employees stayed in the building.

The incident came to light when an employee went to the ground floor of the building. He saw Ashiq bleeding and lying unconscious in jute sacks this morning. His employees informed the police about him. "He was taken to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where doctors declared him dead," said a police officer.

The postmortem revealed that he was beaten with a hammer. "There were several injury marks on the body. It appears that an attack on his head proved fatal," said the officer.

The needle of suspicion points towards the involvement of three of Ashiq's employees, who have been absconding. Sources said that Ashiq did not carry out the police verification of his employees.

Naushad claims that the juvenile employees were employed because they were willing to work at a low salary.

A murder case has been registered at the Sultanpuri police station. Ashiq is survived by his wife and three children. He had come to Delhi in 2002 and started the bakery about three years ago.

New Delhi, August 26
A 46-year-old businessman was allegedly shot at by two motorcycle-borne assailants, when he resisted their attempt to rob him of his bag containing Rs 3 lakh in southeast Delhi's Govindpuri area this afternoon.

The victim has been identified as Vivek Sood, alias Bitto, who is a resident of DLF Gurgaon.

According to the police, the incident took place at about 4.30 pm when Sood was travelling in his Maruti SX4 car. He also had a bag of Rs 3 lakh with him. The money was to be distributed as wages to the employees of his garment factory in Tughlakabad Extension.

According to the police, Sood stopped his car at Aadi Marg near a Punjab National Bank ATM. Two men came towards his car and knocked at one of its windows. As he stepped out of the car, they tried to snatch his bag. He resisted and a scuffle began between him and the robbers. The bag was thrown near the car. Facing stiff resistance from Sood, one of the attackers took out a pistol and fired it at him. The bullet hit him in his stomach. The assailants fled after the firing.

People gathered at the site of the incident, after hearing the gunshot. Sood was rushed to a nearby hospital, where his condition is presently stable, according to the police.

The police were unable to find the bag from the place of the firing. Investigators are not sure if it was stolen by the robbers or by a person among the crowd.